Oreo Super Bowl Momentum, Google+ Strategy, Brand Contests on Vine

The Strategist picks the day’s most relevant and interesting stories about the world of content from around the web. Here’s what you should be reading today:

Oreo’s Super Bowl Promotion

ClickZ’s Lisa Lacy writes about Oreo and its week during and after the Super Bowl. The brand gained almost 8,000 Twitter followers after tweeting about the power outage, and its Cookie vs. Creme campaign has grown to more than 65,000 followers on Instagram.

There were almost 32,000 fan submissions for the contest, which asked customers to “submit a photo they love with the hashtag #cookiethis or #cremethis on Instagram. Over the course of a three-day period, Oreo selected a number of submissions and worked with a team of artists in Portland, Oregon to create sculptures based on the images using either cookie or creme. The sculpture creations are then photographed and uploaded to Instagram.”

Hashtags should be included in posts, and marketers can write long posts inside of the social network. Tags can be used to reach out to people and brands, and companies can offer live video Hangouts on the site: “Upload that Hangout to YouTube, add the link to your blog with a reader-friendly keyword-rich description, and you’ve got a powerful SEO tool that doubles as a branding resource, allowing people to see you in action.”

The submission deemed most romantic will win an overnight stay at the hotel on Friday, Feb. 15, including pre-dinner cocktails, a four-course dinner with wine and a full English breakfast the next morning, among other treats.”

It would be for 20-somethings and college students and “offer them a limited-content version at a price point calibrated to a just-starting-out-in-life budget,” said an unidentified source from the paper.

Laura Hazard Owen speculates that $11.80 per month would be a good deal for monthly digital access, and says that it should be easy to customize and choose what sections to subscribe to.

He was the assistant managing editor and confirmed the news via his Twitter, where he said, “After 32 years, announced I’ll be retiring from The Post. Great run at a great place, now on to new challenges & fun & grandparenting!”

Making an Author Platform

Freelance Writing’s Irene Watson discusses author platforms, which are enhanced resumes that help “publishers and the media take notice that you are a professional, you have experience, you are good at promoting yourself and promoting your book and topic of interest without being self-serving, and overall, you know what you are doing.”

Websites should include the home page, about the author, places to buy products, media kits, and blogs. A list should be kept of publishing experiences, speaking engagements, and workshops. Writers need online forums to connect with fans, whether it’s a Facebook page on a discussion group the website.